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A BDSM Community with a beautiful club house and members only land for residents, their guests and paying members to play in. We work to foster a sense of community and belonging to our residents and provide an idyllic setting in which to live your dreams.

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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Titles and Role Play in the Blackthorne Community (updated 3/18/08)

Introduction

One thing I have found lacking in most BDSM places is actual D/s relationships. It’s true that there are usually Masters/Mistresses and their pets, but the groups usually do not facilitate interaction. Unlike most places, we are not entirely geared toward sex (although it’s a huge part of our community!). Rather we are focusing more on building a BDSM community and facilitating healthy and close D/s relationships, and expect that this can only enhance the physical aspects of our relationships.

Therefore, we are implementing a title system based loosely on Feudal systems (no particular one, lets say Japanese for fun).We expect group members to display their group title and behave accordingly. As the club house region is open to public, anyone not wearing their title should be treated with respect but need not be treated according to these rules. These are intended to facilitate role play and social interactions. This is not a role play sim as such.

Dom(me)s are expected to be dominant and should treat subs as such. We do not mean that there should be no respect or that one has absolute free ticket of course, but that anyone wearing a sub tag (Pet, Slave or Property) wants to be treated as a sub. In addition, since much of Blackthorne Estates is for residential property owners we work that into the system as well. Members may choose any title they wish and switch freely with the one exception that only land owners may be gentry.

Note: anyone found to be abusing the system to limit others’ enjoyment of our facilities will be dismissed from the group and may find themselves estate banned.

Staff

Regent

These are owners. Namely Minh Ahn . Think of it as a Queen, Monarch or such. In Blackthorne, Regents are very hands off rulers. If you see one treat them with respect, but they are not typically inclined to use their position for any purpose than to send a signal that they are working. Perhaps referring to Minh as Miss would be appropriate. If a regent asks you to do something, it is because there is a problem that needs to be fixed, or she needs a favor.

Noble

These are officers. Again, anyone wearing an Noble title, must be treated with respect, should be referred to as Miss or Mister.Anyone wearing this title is working and if they ask you to do something, please do so as its likely to facilitate smooth operations.

Lord/Lady

These are managers. They should be treated just as nobles, but answer to nobles in most matters.Anyone wearing this tag, is working, but unlike nobles, part of their job is interacting with our guests more.

Nymph/Satyrs

Nymphs/Satyrs are the work horses of our staff. They are there to serve and are the sub of the staff class. Any Dominant Member may freely treat nymphs/satyrs as subs. Any dominant member may ask a nymph or satyr to serve them. Nymphs and satyrs are required to fulfill most non-sexual requests, beyond that, it is up to the nymph where to draw his or her limits. It is important to remember that they are working for you, and your tips, while not required, are greatly appreciated.

Members

Baron/Baroness

These are the highest rank of the members class.Gentry are land owners in the Blackthorne Community. As such they enjoy certain privileges, such as free membership to the group and discounts on any merchandise offered in the info center or at events. They should be treated as land owners in any feudal system. Gentry may choose any title they wish, but in doing so will be treated according to the title they wear. Baronesses and Barons are also to be given preferential treatment by our nymphs. As with any feudal system, land owner ship has its priveleges.

Master/Mistress

As we all know, Masters/Mistresses deserve respect. Anyone wearing this title should be treated as such. Subs should address them as Miss/Mistress/Sir/Master. Subs should be wary of standing in a position that denotes dominance to a dom(me). Although subs should be treated with respect, Masters and Mistresses should feel free to treat subs as sub. As they are paying members, Masters and Mistresses are also to be given preferential treatment by our staff.

Pet

This title should be worn by anyone wishing to be treated as a sub, but wants to demonstrate independence. They should refer to dom(mes) correctly and with deference. They should refer to all other subs as sister/brother. Please remember, many pets are already owned. Dominant classes should expect respectful treatment from pets, but should also respect the boundaries set by each pet or slave.

Slave

One notch down on the rung, this title should be worn by anyone who wishes to have very little personal freedom . Otherwise, they should behave as pets.

Chattle

This is the lowest of thelow. Property should be treated as furniture. Anyone wearing this title should probably even refer to a pet or slave as sir/ma’am. Additionally, anyone wearing this may be assumed to have no owner and be used as the property of Blackthorne Estates. As always, anyone may place limits, but this title should be used by those who wish to have few limits on how others may treat them.

3 comments:

May I respectfully suggest that rather than "Nymph" "Page" would be more in keeping with the theme of a feudal class system.

And maybe revamp the titles. Style the various levels of managerial staff after the English peerage,from Duke down through Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. Although this may lead to problems as these titles usually had land holdings associated with them. Forms of address would be "Your Grace" or "Your Excellency."

This would then allow you to style the land owners as Lord/Lady, Baronet etc. As well as the more generic Gentry or Noble

Maybe kick "Baron" down from the peerage title to the land owners, since I think many of us associate a baronage with land ownership. Or, moreso than any of the other titles of the peerage. You could also put "Count" into the land owners possible titles (even though it is an alternate for Earl in the peerage), since once again we often associate a Count with land (think "county").

Thanks Iosef, as you may know, I am less familiar with english feudal titles than you ( or probably most other Americans or Europeans). Also, this isn't based hard and fast on any particular system. My goal is to devise a system that people understand, but is unique to the needs of our community.Also, we are given limited number of roles/titles so titles that require male and female version are hard. The same problem is had with multiple titles for the same role (earl/count etc). Having said that, you make some GREAT points. Perhaps in the future, we can create a hover text title system that would allow greater flexibility.I have split the staff off from members group, so that will give me some flexibility too.

I do think Baron/Baroness is better for land owners. I will try to fit that in. I prefer nymph, primarily to lend a sense of style to the "secret garden" theme. You haven't seen it yet, but Nymph's are required to wear pixy, butterfly, and other "nymph" like outfits. Manager level staff will be expected to dress more formally. I thought about serf too. My main reason for going with property was that it meant exactly what I wanted. I am fine with both actually, anyone else have thoughts?